The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1887-09-16
WESTERN CORRESPONDENCE.

VII.
Plum Hollow is little hamlet OF 400
inhabitants in the southwestern county
of Iowa, three miles from the railroad
station, and eighteen miles from the
Missouri state line, nesting at the foot
Of the bluffs which skirt the bottoms o.
the east side of the Missouri river.
These bottoms are sew eral hundred
miles in extent, and at this point about
five miles in width. Tt was settled BY
the Mormons- soon after their exodus
from Nauvoo in 1874 but, singular to
relate, not Mormon is now to be found
within the limits of the corporation, al
though there are many residents in the
adjacent country. Nor is there a for
eign-born resident of any nationality,
with the exception of an English family
or two, most of the people being origin
ally from the states of Virginia, Ken
lucky and Missouri. Four weeks spent
among these people in the interests of
business, and also for the purpose of
rusticating, enabled the writer to become
acquainted with them ard their plain
and rural habits, and to enjoy their
genuine hospitality. They are able to
boast of two churches, an elegant school
building and hotel, well kept, which
would do credit to a larger place.
A few years since the village could
boast of its several saloons, we'll patron
lied; loungers and hangers-on were in
regular attendance, and drunken fights
and brawls were not uncommon. The
rickety, tumble-down state of the only
hotel was proverbial, and place to be
avoided. Since the enforcement of the
prohibitory law the saloons have been
abolished, and a more orderly commu-
nifty is not easily found in the state.
The apology for hotel has changed
hands, and undergone thorough repairs
and renovation. The genial face OF
mine host, J. r. Fague, is always a well
come to his numerous guests, who find
q generous cuisine, and clean and tidy
room. In proportion to the population,
the amount of mercantile business
transacted is astonishing. 1t is worthy
of note, that during sojourn of four
weeks, not the first word of profanity
was heard by the writer, although in
constant intercourse with the people on
the streets.
Occasionally suspicious box, pre-
sumed to contain jug or demiiohn, is
struggled into town by certain ring,
but its fate would be instantly sealed
were it to fall into the hands of the. Off
cials. Even the former patrons of the
saloons admit that the prohibitery law
has wrought wonders for the village.
That the law is sometimes surreptitiously
violated, no one attempts to deny, for
what law is mott But violation in this
community, if discovered, would meet
with swift retribution. Those who would
render the law unpopular would en-
deavor to make it appear that more
liquor is consumed surreptitiously than
before the passage and enforcement of
the law but official statistics, not neces-
sary to enumerate, contradict the as
sertion. In this community it is diff
cult to find person who will openly ex-
press his dissent to the beneficial work
ings of the law. Public sentiment in its
favor is constantly increasing throughout
the state. 1t may safely be said to be
working generally satisfactorily, except
to a certain class of politicians and the
great number of ousted saloon keepers,
whose industries have been suppressed.
They are indignant at the interference
with their business. 1t is not denied
that the enforcement of the law has pro-
duced considerable ruin. It has ruined
the business of the criminal courts, of
the jailer, the coroner, and of kindred
pursuits, and also the hopes of Demo-:
cratic politicians for control of the state
government. Be it said to their credit,
however, there are thousands of sensible
Democrats, not having fear of political
prescription before their eyes, who would
oppose its repeal as strongly as Repub-
licans. The jails are threatened with a
want of patronage, and in Republican
counties are tenantless, almost without
exception, and suffering an innocuous
desuetude."
AS % party measure the enactment of
the law is due to the Republican party,
and it promised to give it a fair and
thorough trial, and it has kept its
promise, and the act has been confirmed
by thrice repeated overwhelming ma
jority. 1t has been predicted by Cover
nor Larabee that the person is not yet
born who will live to see the prohibitory
law repealed in the state of Iowa.
Sioux City, which maintained an I'M
enviable notoriety for some months, is
coming to the front in the suppression
Of the traffic, and its business men are
turning their attention to the hog as a
gentleman of more responsibility than
the drunkard maker, and more profit
able to furnish with corn than to CON
vert it into poison to make men mad.
The slaughter of human beings has
ceased since the martyrdom Of the
heroic Haddock, and the slaughter of
the hog and the OK is fairly inaugurated,
and packing houses are being multi
piled while saloons are disappearing
from public view.
Hasten the day when public senti-
ment will sustain similar laws in Wis
consin, while in the meantime let the
traffic be crippled by high license and
local option by the people. The state
of Wisconsin viii not yield the palm for
intelligence to Iowa or any other stale,
but it does contain beer drinking
population whose habits were largely
contracted beyond the ocean, and whose
individual votes, secured in few weeks
after their arrival on our shores, bv a
:" declaration of intention" nullify an
equal number of those whose ancestors
for a half dozen generations fought in
every national war and assisted to make
the country what it is to-day-the lead
ing nation on the globe.
1t may be a fact not generally known
that the southwestern counties of Iowa
contain quite a sprinkling of Mormons
NOT given to polygamy, like their
brothers of Utah, but generally reputed
to be exemplary citizens-honest and
upright in their dealings, even with
gentiles. Personal business intercourse
with several of their number confirmed
this characteristic. A regular camp
meeting was inaugurated by them a
short time since near Plum Hollow, and
at nresent writing is in filll tide of suo-